Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir has won two Biotechnology Ignition Grants (BIG) worth Rs 50 lakh each from Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).
The list of the awardees of the BIG grant as seed money for validation of Proof of Concept for startups was released by BIRAC.

The BIRAC BIG awardees for 2023, include two SKUAST-K young faculty members, Dr Kaley Khan, Assistant Professor (Agri Engineering) and Dr Mudasir Ahmad Mir, Assistant Professor (Plant Biotechnology). With these two awardees, SKUAST-K has emerged as the No.1 State Agriculture University in the country and in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir to have earned the highest number of BIRAC BIG grants, nine in total.
This winning streak is the result of an effective ecosystem for innovators & startups created in SKUAST-K in pursuit of its mission of transforming itself as the “Innovation lead Farm University”. The different interlinked components of this ecosystem including: an incubation centre (SKIIE Centre), a vibrant innovation & startup policy for faculty & students (SISP), a Technology Business Incubator (iTBI, Nidhi) of the Department of Science & Technology New Delhi, 10 state-of-art in-house dedicated R&D Labs and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI&ML) Centre.
Over a short period of a few years, SKUAST-K’s vibrant ecosystem for innovators and incubates has yielded significant results. These include 17 registered startups of students and faculty and 9 patents, and a number of commercialised technologies.
Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-K, Prof Nazir Ahmad Ganai while congratulating the two young faculty members impressed upon them to take advantage of the support system of the university at its Incubation Centre for commercialization of the technologies. Vice Chancellor also complimented Prof Haroon R Naik, Director Planning & Monitoring, SKUAST-K and Naveed Hamid, Chief Executive Officer, SKIIE Centre for their significant contribution in creating a vibrant ecosystem of Innovation, Incubation and Startup.